Emergency Surgery in a Regional Hospital Before and During the COVID 19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background In extraordinary situations the volume of work of all hospital services changes. The impact of the global COVID 19 pandemic, is classified as an international emergency situation. But, we do not know How did one regional hospital in Bosnia and Herzegovina cope with the COVID-19 pandemic in line with its capacities in terms of emergency surgery. Materials and Methods We used data from our surgical protocols – emergency surgery performed in our department during July and August in 2019 and 2020. We used descriptive statistics. Results: The total number of examinations in the emergency surgical clinic was almost the same. The number of admissions in the period in question in 2020 was 36% lower in relation to the control period. The total number of operations was 17% lower. The number of emergency operations was 39.3% lower. Conclusion: it may be said that emergency surgery functioned on a satisfactory level in our regional hospital, and that the results do not deviate significantly from data from the literature, except regarding emergency amputations and emergency surgery for malignant colorectal stenosis.